Alice Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
by bananathepenguin
Summary: What if Harry were a girl? *Sees infinite possibilities* Please note: In my attempt to make the story more realistic, there are some dark themes that crop up occasionally.


**[Disclaimer: Y'all know who it belongs to. Only Alice's character and the extra/modified scenes are my works.]**

Nighttime. Inky-black sky all around. I'm soaring above the world, flying fast, eyes tearing up in the strong wind. Down below, the whole of London twinkles like some beautiful, bizarre toy city. Everything is a beautiful, magical blur.

My heart is pounding with excitement. The blue motorcycle beneath me growls and picks up even more speed. This is the most happy I've felt in a long ti-

Waaaaiit a second.

Flying motorcycle!?

And for some reason, I'm getting the feeling that I'm not alone on this thing.

Just as I turn around to face whoever it is with me, the entire sky starts rumbling and shaking. The vehicle beneath me flickers and then, disappears completely.

Oh, crap.

Alice Potter woke up with a gasp. She couldn't breathe. Everything was blurry and dusty. The world was still quaking and Alice couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening. It took a minute for her to become aware of the muffled yells from above that accompanied the rumbling.

"WAKE UP, WAKE UP! UP, UP, UP!"

"Aaaaaaaaaagh. PLEASE shut up," Alice mumbled, pulling her thin sheet over herself to block out the yells and keep the dust dribbling from the top of the tiny cupboard in which she slept in, off of her face.

Alice had barely wondered why her infinitely annoying cousin Dudley, who was the source of the mini earthquake, was up early when there came a sharp rapping noise from outside her door

"Up! Get up! Now! I want everything perfect for my darling's birthday!" Aunt Petunia's shrill voice commanded.

Alice let out a loud groan and reached for glasses. No wonder.

Today was Dudley's birthday.

"UP!" Aunt Petunia shrieked.

"I'm up!" Alice shouted back, pulling on a pair of Dudley's old trousers.

And thus began her day. Alice had to listen to Uncle Vernon gripe about her short, untidy hair and serve breakfast, while Dudley got to open his many presents and complain about how he had less presents than last year. She had been dreading this day for months and was just eager for it to end. However, a phone call from their elderly neighbour, Mrs Figg did wonders for Alice's spirits. One of the worse parts of Dudley's birthday that she had to endure every year, Alice could barely suppress her joy when the old lady called to say she won't be able to look after Alice today. Uncle Vernon's equally vile sister, Marge, was out of town; Again, good news (She absolutely despised Alice). In the end, the Dursleys, bad-naturedly decided to take her along with them, Dudley and Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, on the birthday outing, however much Dudley moaned about it. They didn't trust her enough to leave her alone in the house. They never did trust her with anything, for reasons unfathomable to Alice.(Okay, maybe not COMPLETELY unfathomable, because wherever Alice was, something weird happened. But still, it wasn't like she actually DID anything weird on purpose. They just seemed to happen.)

And now, Alice was wedged between Dudley and Piers, but she wasn't complaining, unlike

Uncle Vernon, who was ranting very loudly. This was one of his favourite pastimes and he especially loved to rant about poor Alice. This fine morning, the topic was motorcycles.

"…roaring along like complete maniacs, the young hoodlums," Uncle Vernon said, waving one hand around exasperatedly.

Alice, who was trying to distract herself from the two bored boys who had now taken to pinching her to occupy themselves joined in excitedly. "I dreamt about a motorcycle today! It was flying."

SCREEEECH. Uncle Vernon had stomped down on the brakes, stopping the car violently in the middle of the road. He turned around, his face an ugly puce and spat,"MOTORCYCLES. DON'T. FLY!"

Alice leaned back, shocked.

"It was just a dream," she mumbled.

And that put an end to any more urges Alice had to converse with her aunt and uncle.

The first part of the trip went great. Alice had an amazing lunch (Mostly because Piers would order something that had a fancy name and would end up not eating it) and enjoyed herself at the zoo, one of the many places she'd never been to before. The rest of her outing group ignored her for most of the trip, which suited her just fine.

She was standing in front of the gorilla sanctuary, trying to figure out who the animal was reminiscent of, when Piers came up her. "Why are you even here?"

Alice sighed. "Leave me alone, Polkiss."

"No but why?" He continued derisively. "You're such a freak. You never fit in with anyone at school-"

"-because you and Dudley, along with your other mates never let me-"

"-no one likes you even in your own house-"

Alice was starting to see red.

"-Why don't you just go away to another place where we never have to see you again? Why don't you just disappear, freak?"

"Why don't you polKISS MY-"

Applause from the nearby crowd cut Alice off; Somebody had managed to enrage the gorilla to the point that it was not on standing on its hind legs and beating its chest with a roar.

"COOL!" Piers yelled excitedly and rushed off to join the horde.

Alice was left behind, still seething. Growling to herself, she starting putting as much distance between her and the rest of troupe as she could without losing them. (Goodness forbid that happen. The Dursleys probably wouldn't even bother TRYING to search for her.)

A while later, Alice followed the Dursleys and Piers into the reptile house. The cool and dark atmosphere had Alice closing her eyes. When she opened them, she found that her group had gone ahead and mixed with the crowd. Alice started panicking for a second, but shouldn't have worried because as it turned out it was very easy to find them: Follow the sounds of a child yelling frustratedly.

They were now standing in front of a huge glass container which housed one of the larger snakes in the place. Dudley was wailing about how it was boring him by not moving and Uncle Vernon was rapping on the glass trying to get its attention.

"And I thought I couldn't find them," Alice mused as she drew closer to them.

"Make it MOVE!" Dudley shouted, stamping his foot.

"It's ASLEEP! Let it be!" Alice snapped.

"How do YOU know? Its eyes are open!" Dudley retorted.

"I'm not even going to bother answering that. Should've paid more attention in Zoology class," Alice said acidly, knowing full well Dudley played truant for most of his Zoology classes.

"Ugh, this sucks." So saying, the boy stomped off to harass some other poor reptile. The rest of them skittered after him.

Alice turned back to the snake. She watched it sleep for a while and felt pity for it.

"Don't you feel fed up?" She whispered softly against the glass. "Having to deal with asshats like him?"

And then something unexpected happened. The snake started moving.

It lifted its head from amongst its coils, swaying slightly and it LOOKED STRAIGHT AT HER.

Alice eyes widened. "Is it…LOOKING at me?"

The snake flicked its tongue once.

"C-Can you… understand me?"

The snake nodded its head.

**[A/N: Okay, y'all know what happens next]**

_

"Go. Cupboard. No supper for a week." Uncle Vernon barely managed to get these words out .

As the lock of her cupboard's door clicked, locking her inside, Alice felt a huge heaviness settle onto her.

Piers' words came crashing back.

"Why are you even here?"

"..such a freak…"

"…never fit in…"

"…no one likes you…"

"…just go away…"

"…just disappear…"

This wasn't the first time she'd heard this and he wasn't the only person to say them. Every single day, at least once, something along these lines would be thrown at her- From her peers, from her neighbours, from her so-called family. She had no parents, no friends, no one she could talk to or at the very least, someone who didn't mind her feeling of alienation, like there wasn't anywhere in this world where she could belong, she had no idea how to fix it or make it better. She knew it wasn't just a phase; She'd been going through this for as long as she could remember although whenever let go of the hope that it was just a terribly long phase.

Every so often, she would get the feeling that she was never even supposed to be born, like it was all some sort of mistake, like SHE was a mistake.

And at that very moment, every thing she'd faced came flooding back- Every single punch. every kick, every insulting word flung at her, every moment of loneliness- and pressed against her chest. Tears stung Alice's eyes and she felt as if her heart would burst from all the pain.

As she lay curled up on her tiny cot sobbing quietly, her only wish was for someone to come and take her away from this dark place.

_

**A/N: GUYS. Before you starting forming opinions about this, know that this the first time I'm posting on the internet anything I've written. I've wanted to for SUCH a long time, but due to various reasons, it did not happen.**

**I reeaaally don't know how you guys will take this chapter. I'm very much open to constructive criticism as long as it isn't rude. And don't judge the upcoming chapters by this one. Things get much lighter once our saviour steps in ;)**

**Please take a moment to review the chapter! It would mean the world to me :)**

**Pce out xx**


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